(Minghui.org) Because of their various backgrounds and preferences, everyone has different views of art. Some pay attention to color, others love music, and some enjoy dance.
Most artists specialize in the particular field they have expertise in, and they may feel it’s difficult to go beyond their field.
Many people who’ve seen Shen Yun feels it’s special because the performances are not just about dance and music—they also include lighting, dynamic backdrops, live orchestra, costume, and color, each of which is a specialized field. Each of these showcase aspects of art, and Shen Yun’s performances integrate various elements of these different fields so they harmoniously and subtly augment each other.
Leo Tolstoy wrote, “To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then, by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds, or forms expressed in words, so to transmit that feeling that others may experience the same feeling — this is the activity of art.”
Because Shen Yun’s performances resonate with audiences the show is universally welcomed, and has been enjoyed by both young or old, artists, and regular people. People from all backgrounds have commented that they were amazed by the Shen Yun’s artistic and aesthetic value.
Truly Magical
Shen Yun’s dynamic backdrops impressed artists such as professional stage videographer Tsutomu Kurokawa from Japan, who said, “Shen Yun’s stage lighting technology is top-notch.” He explained that the lighting not only kept the backdrop clear and bright, but also ensured that the performers were well lit – which is very challenging to achieve. Moreover, when the characters on the stage “fly” into the backdrop, they immediately become invisible; the switching between characters on the stage and those on the backdrop are accurate and seamless. This happens many times during each show and he said it’s truly magical.
Dug McGuirk, business consultant and Grammy-winning music producer, also loved Shen Yun’s “incorporation of technology.” He admired the company’s patented 3D backdrop that seamlessly blends live action on stage with the animations on the screen. “Bringing in the screen and the clever way that it was all put together—it’s very visually stimulating. It’s beautiful,” he said.
“All Dance Teachers in the World Should Come Watch Such a Wonderful Performance”
After watching a Shen Yun performance in March 2024, actor Mark Haptonstall said, “...it would stir something inside of me, kind of like springtime—a feeling of renewal and faith.” “It’s really exciting to have so much of a narrative to hold on to. They’re not just performing the dance—they’re actually communicating something inside to the audience.
“The dancing is phenomenal … it seems athletic. but also soft, like a poem,” he continued. “I love the show. It’s absolutely amazing … very uplifting [and] inspiring—just like this purity of spirit.”
After Actor Rob Dean watched in the show in California in April 2024, he exclaimed, “My God. [They’re] superhumans as far as I’m concerned.” “I’ve been on stage many, many, many times and the concentration it must take to make everything exactly perfect without making it look like a slog,” he added,“it takes a lot of serious effort, so that in itself is spiritual to me. The [performers] are so perfect, they’re so in step. The show is on a higher calling; there is a higher purpose to it and everyone is attached to it. I didn’t know that, and now I do.
“I really, really respect the spirituality coming off the stage in massive waves because to be this devoted to an art form that is rooted in the past is a spiritual exercise in itself,” he said.
Nicoletta Buonaguro, dance school founder and dance judge, watched a Shen Yun performance in Italy in January 2024, and said, “It’s a spectacular performance. Because the professionalism of the dancers, the choreography, and the colors were all impressive. Gorgeous and unique. I think all dance teachers in the world should come watch such a wonderful performance.
“It’s a lot of discipline right there—a lot of dedication,” said former ballet dancer Melissa Osuna after she watched Shen Yun in January 2025. “It was a seamless performance—directed, choreographed, [and] written. There weren’t any pieces missing. That’s talent right there. That’s best of the world,” she explained. “I’m proud of you for the hard work and discipline and sticking with it and not giving up. You’re pretty much a legend at this point, I would say.”
Perfect Harmony of Western and Eastern Musical Instruments
Mario Godoy, musician and composer, found the music special when he watched a Shen Yun performance at Baltimore in February 2024. “Shen Yun’s music was very good,” he said. “Everything was just right as to timing. All the music was excellent. The Western instruments like violins and violas, and all other instruments – I liked them all very much. I’ve been listening attentively the entire time.
“I could feel this kind of great combination, a very balanced feeling. The orchestra uses special instruments with a long history from Eastern culture. It was so perfect. These sounds were so great, so sweet!” he added.
Renowned musician and record producer Ted “Theo” Perlman, who won a Grammy Award, also watched Shen Yun in February 2024. He said the entire show was, “unbelievably good. Fantastic.
“Fantastic, fantastic. Very beautiful. The music was beautiful—the way it combines Chinese melodies—I’ve produced records in China, mixing in the Chinese instruments with the [Western] instruments is just beautiful,” he commended, adding the blending “was perfect because the different tones and different intervals were really put together well. The musicians are fantastic and the dance was beautiful.”
Tatsuya Dejima, composer, guitarist, and member of the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, saw Shen Yun in Kyoto on the evening of January 4, 2025, and said, “I did not only stay at the music, but focused more on the visual effects, colors, expressiveness of the dancing, etc., because these are truly amazing. I’ve been deeply moved.
“This is an extremely accomplished artistic feast! Using the five thousand years of history and cultural depth as the background – this meticulously planned and created work is truly admirable.
He felt inspired and said, “I very much admire what Shen Yun is doing. I also hope to use my own way to accomplish this mission… So I want to say: I love Shen Yun from the bottom of my heart! Shen Yun is the must-see top choice among all performances.”
“A Living Dictionary of Color”
“As soon as the curtains opened and the gong sounded, clouds from the heavenly realms appeared before us. The grandeur was overwhelming, and the artistic layout inside was so expansive,” said Yanqing Lu, Associate Professor from the National Tsing Hua University’s Art and Design Department after she watched a Shen Yun performance in April 2024.
“As an art scholar myself, I believe everyone should possess a certain level of literacy in dance, drama, music, visual arts, and interdisciplinary studies. Shen Yun turns these expectations into reality,” she explained. “What’s special here is the color coordination, which can be described as a living dictionary of color appreciation.
“I am grateful to see such exquisite performances, all executed in unison. What we often see is edited—it’s not live. But Shen Yun is different, so I am deeply moved… I believe everyone seeing Shen Yun will smile. Shen Yun is exemplary because its color coordination is very elegant, unlike earthly colors,” she added. “I believe Shen Yun can inspire people to approach all future matters with a broad mind. In the art world, every artist must convey their uniqueness, but what Shen Yun conveys is universality.”
Lin Yaonong, the head of a glass craft company and an award-winning glass artist, said he was moved to tears when he watched Shen Yun in April 2024. “The connection between the lighting and the dynamic backdrop is really rare to see, and it is great,” he said. “The dancers’ costumes are very colorful, and so beautiful, I really can’t imagine how Shen Yun did it.”
He is especially amazed by the color. “Shen Yun combines the colors very well, creating gradients of aqua, orange, peach and other colors, which is a bit like the rendering... which really impressed me.”
“Universal Ideas and Universal Emotions and Feelings”
After Emmy-award-winning TV producer Joshua Bennett watched a Shen Yun performance in New Jersey in April 2024, he said, “I thought the synchronicity of the dancers and the costumes were really beautiful—the way they flowed and moved—the combination of that was really special.”
As a producer, he said that, “it’s very difficult” to create a show like Shen Yun, “especially with dance because you don’t have dialogue or narration.” He said, “[They’re] telling a very visual story and I think the fact that [they] had the audience laughing and really enjoying it shows that the story came through. The ideas in the dances and stories were accessible to people.”
But he felt Shen Yun’s values are beyond that. “I think it’s very important and I think everyone can reflect on that. There’s a lot of wisdom and value in all of it,” he said. “[Shen Yun] reminds you to focus on what’s important in your work, and on the things that you really care about—your own truths. It’s a good message for me to think about when I [am working on] the next projects and stories I want to tell. They’re universal ideas and universal emotions and feelings.”
In his book, On Art and Artists, renowned French artist August Rodin said about the realm of art, “The entire beauty of art comes from thoughts, from intentions, from the thoughts and intentions of the author inspired by the universe.” Inherent, Shen Yun’s performance carries the historical mission and uses the most open and tolerant art form to allow all audiences to feel the compassion of the energy of “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.” This is the grace of the Creator and the hope for the future to enter a new era.
Auguste Rodin also wrote, “Art is contemplation […] It is the joy of the intellect which sees clearly into the Universe and which recreates it, with conscientious vision. Art is the most sublime mission of man, since it is the expression of thought seeking to understand the world and to make it understood.”
The beauty of Shen Yun comes from the inner meaning of the performances and the artists’ wish to revive traditional culture. The performances showcase universal values, a gift from the divine and hope for a new era—one that is filled with compassion and the universal principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance", which is the gift of the Creator. Grace is the hope for a new era in the future.
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Category: News Commentary
